Think of this irony. In 1924, Al Smith, Governor of New York, lost in the US presidential election. Among the reasons: he was a Catholic, and many feared a Catholic presidency would merely be a “pipeline to the Pope.”

Just slightly over 100 years later, against all the prophecies and predictions that it couldn’t happen, an American was elected as Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo XIV.

Amongst all the chatter of the past couple of weeks—his Chicago origins, the Villanova years, the Augustinians, the mission work in Peru, his mother’s Creole heritage, what he’s said and what he hasn’t said—our prayers for him need to be rooted in the essence of his mission.

Unlike civil leaders, Popes aren’t elected by a constituency. They make no campaign promises. They don’t have a party to take them to task or to rebel against them if they don’t deliver as people hoped. They’re not obliged to be just like the last guy—nor to be his polar opposite. Despite the media attention, they’re not welcomed into the ranks of celebrity.

Popes have one mission: Jesus Christ. Remember the Lord’s words to Peter: “Feed my sheep.” It’s never been “Do whatever you like with the sheep I give you.” As much as humanly speaking, the Pope (like any church leader) receives his people into his care as a gift from the Lord. Peter, along with all his successors, responds to that call to care for the Lord’s flock.

What’s true of the Pope, of course, holds true for the whole Church—for you and me. Church isn’t a club. It’s not a museum. Not a social agency. Church proclaims one beautiful truth, “ever ancient, ever new” (as St Augustine put it): Jesus Christ, Savior of the world.